My Iron Butt 5000 Rally

This is the blog that I started for friends and family to follow my Long Distance Riding preparation and competition in the inaugural Iron Butt 5000, a 5 day 5000 mile motorcycle rally. In May 2011, Mike Kneebone for the IBA announced there would not be an IB5000 in 2012, but instead that the IBA and Team Strange would be sponsoring the But Lite 6IX in 2012. So that makes this blog a bit of Long Distance History, so I've decided to leave it as it is for historical purposes. I will create other blogs as I have new adventures and rally competitions.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

When in Doubt...

So the tank was mounted up and looked good but there was a problem, it moved too much from side to side. After talking with other engineers and riders I had a list of possible solutions to try. I started by first adding reinforcement cross-braces, that helped some but in the end added more connections and more complexity, which was not good. Instead I started over, but this time I used some lessons learned from the first brackets. First change was to double the angle thickness to 1/8". I then doubled the number of connection bolts at the angles and also increased the bracket length to extend to the bottom of the seat edge under the passenger hand holds. The combination of these three changes resulted in a mount that is now completely flex free! It is so solid now that I can easily rock the bike on the center stand by holding the tank. Not bad IMO and the design is still clean and easily removable. I have added 2 Camelbak backpacks to the sides of the tank, next up is a backrest pad and cover for the center section..

On the GL1800 the proven set-up is to plumb a fitting into the Fuel Sending Plate, either by a screw in or welded in bulkhead fitting. I am planning to use a second 90 deg NPT fitting from TourTank and brass nuts to connect to the fuel sending plate. I'll post an update when this is finished. This link shows a typical approach to a GL1800install.

About Me

So I have set up a few different blogs to document my motorcycle trips, rally adventures and even my unusual adventures. I have a need to ride and I have a need to share my trips and times with my family and friends. Follow along any of my blogs and feel free to drop me a line.